My name is Liz and I'm a sophomore at Punxsutawney Area High School. Outside of school, I am a member of a dance company. I've been dancing since the age of 3 and I have worked my way up to being a Senior Company Member of Mahoning Valley Ballet. Dance classes I take include ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, tap, composition and invitational classes. I used to run track and field, but I had to give it up because of the schedule conflict with dance. I'm involved with my church, Paradise Community U.C.C. near Reynoldsville, as well.
In the future, I plan to go on to college and study dance or psychology.
This past summer, I went on a mission trip to Guatemala. I've been there 4 times already, but each year is a little different. I helped to assemble concrete stoves every morning, and in the afternoon I helped to lead Vacation Bible School for nearly 300 kids. It was an incredible experience, to the least. Above is a photo of Mattie, a girl that also went on the mission trip, a Guatemalan girl, and myself from this summer.
Also this summer, I attended Creation Music Festival 2010, a Christian music festival featuring different bands. A few girls from my youth group went along, and I plan to go back next year.
Bigtooth Aspen
Scientific Name:Populus grandidentata Deciduous or Coniferous? Deciduous Leaf Arrangement: Simple - Alternate Commercial Use: Paper and pressboard Provides habitat for... Beavers, woodpeckers, and black rat snakes Organism(s) that infect the tree include: Many types of fungus such as the oyster mushroom and honey mushroom as well as insects such as the gypsy moth and ambrosia beetle. Provides food for... Whitetail deer, the gypsy moth, and meadow vole Native to PA? Yes Tree Relatives: Quaking aspen, but the poplars are also closely related Twig Characteristics: Short, pale grey, small-budded Other Information: Produces more wood than most other trees and it sprouts from the roots
Shellbark Hickory
Scientific Name:Carya laciniosa Deciduous or Coniferous? Deciduous Leaf Arrangement: Compound - Alternate Commercial Use: Tool handles Provides habitat for... Quail, foxes, raccoons, and small rodents Organism(s) that infect the tree include: Types of fungi attack hickories in general, but shellbark hickory has no enemies that seriously threaten its development. Provides food for... Whitetail deer, Native to PA? Yes Tree Relatives: All of those of the Hickory family, especially shagbark hickory Twig Characteristics: Usually orange-brown, slightly hairy, and angled with many orange lenticels Other Information: Produces nuts with a sweet kernel that are very popular among man and wildlife
1. When finished take a screen shot, or copy and paste the information about the microbe most like you. 2. View the dichotomous key provided by your teacher. Answer the following: a. How are the steps in the dichotomous key organized? In a tree chart format b. What is the purpose of a dichotomous key? To find which microbes are alike and different c. What characteristics were used in the steps of the dichotomous key? Personal preferences d. Which bacteria are you most closely related to? Elphidum e. Which bacteria are you most different from? Anything under the procaryots
Animal Classification
Blood proteins circulate plasma of blood. Biochemistry is the study of chemical substances occurring in living organisms. These are both used to group animals that have the same blood proteins and biochemistry characteristics. All mammals have similar blood proteins such as albumin, aluminum and fibrinogens; however, non-mammals have different biochemical features like blood circulation in their blood than mammals.
For my graph, I looked at the test results for the biomolecule lab of one food from each of the above food groups. I took the overall results of the food, decided what I thought the best reaction was, and graphed it. The red represents presence of simple sugars, the blue represents presence of starches, the green represents presence of fats, and the black represents presence of proteins. In the fruit category, there was a presence of simple sugars, but no starch, fat, or protein. For vegetables, there were starches but no fat or protein. For beans, there was starch, fat, and protein all present but there were no simple sugars. In meat, there was fat and protein but no simple sugars or starches. In eggs, there were no simple sugars or starches but they contained fat and protein. Lastly, for milk, there were no simple sugars but there were starches, fat, and protein. I can conclude from this that although fruits are good for you, they have many simple sugars. Vegetables are high in starch. Beans contain necessary ingredients and lack simple sugars. Are made up of mostly fats and proteins. Milk contains starches, fats, and proteins. So, one should eat a combination of the food groups in order to consume all of these ingredients. For example, you could not survive on eggs alone. You would need to combine it with something like eggs that have fat and protein. Answers to questions
Identifying the biomolecules found in each of the foods/types of foods
Biomolecules found in each of the types of foods are explained above. To summarize, a food had a presence of either simple sugars, starches, fats, proteins, or a combination of them. One food may have a presence of simple sugars while another may not. In the fruit category, there was a presence of simple sugars, but no starch, fat, or protein. For vegetables, there were starches but no fat or protein. For beans, there was starch, fat, and protein all present but there were no simple sugars. In meat, there was fat and protein but no simple sugars or starches. In eggs, there were no simple sugars or starches but they contained fat and protein. Lastly, for milk, there were no simple sugars but there were starches, fat, and protein.
Discussing the results of the tests to the type of biomolecules identified as well as the catalase test.
From the biomolecule lab, I can conclude from this that although fruits are good for you, they have many simple sugars. Vegetables are high in starch. Beans contain necessary ingredients and lack simple sugars. Are made up of mostly fats and proteins. Milk contains starches, fats, and proteins. As far as the catalase lab goes, I can conclude that foods react in either warm hydrogen peroxide. or room temperature hydrogen peroxide., but not the cold hydrogen peroxide.
Statements of what has been learned through the activity/supporting evidence from the activity
One should eat a combination of the food groups in order to consume all of these biomolecules. For example, you could not survive on eggs alone. You would need to combine it with something like eggs that have fat and protein.
Catalase Lab
For the catalase lab, i tested the onion. After testing it in warm hydrogen peroxide, it showed no reaction. For the room temperature hydrogen peroxide, the onion still showed no reacion. Lastly, for the cold hydrogen peroixde, it still showed no reaction. To conclude, onions do not react in hydrogen peroxide. However, it may react in hot hydrogen peroxide since only warm, room temperature, and cold hydrogen peroxide were used. My graph for the overall results (from everyone) is below:
My question: Are enzymes essential for genetic engineering? Answer: Enzymes are indeed necessary for genetic engineering. Typically, enzymes are used in our bodies to break things down and put things back together. The control all actions and reactions. A lot of things today are genetically engineered and altered. This would not be possible without enzymes. If you wanted to put the DNA of one organism into another, you would need to cut the DNA. But what would you use? Enzymes need to do this. Even if you found a way to cut the DNA, you would need to reassemble it in the new organism, and only enzymes can do this. It is their job. Also, organisms would not be able to survive without enzymes. All reactions in our bodies take place slowly, and if enzymes did not exist, we would already be dead by the time our bodies reacted. Enzymes are needed for typically everything that takes place in our bodies and without them, we would not be able to survive.
Sources: http://www.molecular-plant-biotechnology.info/enzymes-used-in-genetic-engineering/enzymes-used-in-genetic-engineering.htm http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100915051721AAlZHs2
Chromatography Lab
I can conclude from the chromatography lab that not all plants have the same type of chlorophyll. I know this because the different leaves in the lab all showed different results. Pigment two of plant A and pigment two of plant B may have not only different pigment fronts but also different pigment colors. You can see this by comparing the pigment colors/fronts to those of other plant samples.
Light Intensity Lab
Homework:
1. Light intensity is typically how energetic the light wave is, and the higher the frequency, the higher its intensity will be.
2. Wavelength determines the form of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum. It is the distance between the different crests of energy waves.
3. Pigments change the color of reflected light. They absorb certain wavelengths of light.
1. Wavelength and light intensity are necessary for photosynthesis. Without any light intensity at all, photosynthesis would not be able to occur. We know this, because in our simulation, we at one point set the light intensity to zero. Every combination with zero as the light intensity ended up making zero ATP, meaning photosynthesis did not occur.
2. The above photos summarize our simulation. I concluded that you need a medium of light intensity and wavelength to make any ATP at all. Too much or too little of either factor will result in no ATP being made, thus disabling photosynthesis.
Yeast Lab Analysis
1. State 2 clear, concise conclusions derived from the analysis of the results from the experiments in your class. One conclusion is that the 5% water/sugar solution helped the yeast to release the most carbon dioxide. So 5% was the ideal amount of sugar to produce the most carbon dioxide. The other solutions were not as efficient. Therefore, the 3%, 7% and 10% solutions were not as productive as the 5% solution.
2. What was the dependent and independent variables in the experiment? Explain. The dependent variable was the amount of sugar in the solutions. We used different sugar solutions for every tube we filled. The independent variables included yeast, water temperature, amount of yeast, and amount of water because they did not change throughout the entire experiment.
3. According to the experimental data, what kind of environment do yeast prefer? How did the sugar concentration change the result? Explain. After doing this experiment, we concluded that yeast prefer a warm, moist environment. The sugar concentrations altered the amount of carbon dioxide the yeast produced. They either produced a lot of carbon dioxide or not enough to make the balloon inflate. The 5% concentration produced the most because that balloon was inflated the most.
4. How did the amount of rising change with the different types of sugar solutions used? With the 3% solution, the bread raised the least. For 5%, the bread raised the most. For 7%, the bread raised slighty less than the 3%. For 10%, the bread didn’t rise much more than the 3%.
5. What kind of respiration did the yeast carry out in the experiment? Explain. Anaerobic respiration was carried out. This is because after glycolysis, 2 pyruvate were converted to ethanol and CO2 during fermentation.
DNA Replication Model
DNA replication starts with one strand of DNA.
Then, the enzyme DNA helicase "unzips" the DNA.
DNA polymerase separates the unzipped strand of DNA and the hydrogen bonds between bases are broken.
Then, new nitrogen bases such as adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine reconnect with the old nitrogen bases that were abandoned after separation.
Lastly, the two stands are zipped back up with DNA ligase into the double helix, thus creating two strands of DNA instead of one.
Description
DNA replication begins with just a single strand of DNA. It is then unzipped by DNA helicase and separated by DNA polymerase. In this stage, the hydrogen bonds between the nitrogen bases are broken. After that, the proper nitrogen bases line up with the nitrogen bases that were left after separation. Two exact models are now made. Finally, the two strands are zipped back together with DNA ligase and the product is two identical strands of DNA.
Class Traits Lab
The two traits I chose were attached/unattached earlobes and red-green colorblindness. Having free earlobes is dominant while having attached earlobes is recessive and normal color vision is dominant while red-green colorblindness is recessive.
For the earlobe trait, the numbers in the charts hold true to proving that having free earlobes is dominant. In nearly every city and school, more people had free earlobes than attached. For the colorblindness trait, the numbers of people that are colorblind and are not are significantly different. More people have normal vision. The same was true for our class. More people had free earlobes and no one was colorblind.
Having brown eyes and being right handed are two other traits. In our class, 12/13 girls and 3/5 boys had brown eyes. In the other class period, 6/11 girls and 9/13 boys had brown eyes. According to Wikipedia, about 90% of the global population has brown eyes. A factor that contributes to this would be in larger countries like China, more people have brown eyes because of their race. In that part of the world, brown eyes is highly dominant as well as dark hair. Brown eyes are the dominant trait. Also, in our class, 13/13 girls and 4/5 boys were right handed. In 3rd period, 9/11 girls and 12/13 boys were right handed. According to scientificamerican.com, about 70% of the world is right handed. Being right handed is the dominant trait while being left-handed is recessive.
I will look at the trait of being right handed. Since it is dominant, I know that somewhere in my genotype I must have a R. I could either have Rr or Rr. However, when I look at my parents, they are both right handed. This means that they could have RR and RR or Rr and Rr. Because of the law of segregation, the alleles split in half during gamete formation. However, because of independent assorment, R doesn’t necessarily have to go with r. If 2 genotypes were Rr and Rr, the possible outcomes are 1 RR, 2 Rr, and 1 rr. If both of my parents had RR, there would be a 100% chance that I am right handed, making me RR. If both were Rr, I could be RR or Rr. If only one of them was Rr, I would have a 25% chance of being left-handed. My sister is right handed as well, so it is highly possible that our genotypes are RR.
About Me
My name is Liz and I'm a sophomore at Punxsutawney Area High School. Outside of school, I am a member of a dance company. I've been dancing since the age of 3 and I have worked my way up to being a Senior Company Member of Mahoning Valley Ballet. Dance classes I take include ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, tap, composition and invitational classes. I used to run track and field, but I had to give it up because of the schedule conflict with dance. I'm involved with my church, Paradise Community U.C.C. near Reynoldsville, as well.
In the future, I plan to go on to college and study dance or psychology.
This past summer, I went on a mission trip to Guatemala. I've been there 4 times already, but each year is a little different. I helped to assemble concrete stoves every morning, and in the afternoon I helped to lead Vacation Bible School for nearly 300 kids. It was an incredible experience, to the least. Above is a photo of Mattie, a girl that also went on the mission trip, a Guatemalan girl, and myself from this summer.
Also this summer, I attended Creation Music Festival 2010, a Christian music festival featuring different bands. A few girls from my youth group went along, and I plan to go back next year.
Bigtooth Aspen
Scientific Name: Populus grandidentata
Deciduous or Coniferous? Deciduous
Leaf Arrangement: Simple - Alternate
Commercial Use: Paper and pressboard
Provides habitat for... Beavers, woodpeckers, and black rat snakes
Organism(s) that infect the tree include: Many types of fungus such as the oyster mushroom and honey mushroom as well as insects such as the gypsy moth and ambrosia beetle.
Provides food for... Whitetail deer, the gypsy moth, and meadow vole
Native to PA? Yes
Tree Relatives: Quaking aspen, but the poplars are also closely related
Twig Characteristics: Short, pale grey, small-budded
Other Information: Produces more wood than most other trees and it sprouts from the roots
Shellbark Hickory
Scientific Name: Carya laciniosa
Deciduous or Coniferous? Deciduous
Leaf Arrangement: Compound - Alternate
Commercial Use: Tool handles
Provides habitat for... Quail, foxes, raccoons, and small rodents
Organism(s) that infect the tree include: Types of fungi attack hickories in general, but shellbark hickory has no enemies that seriously threaten its development.
Provides food for... Whitetail deer,
Native to PA? Yes
Tree Relatives: All of those of the Hickory family, especially shagbark hickory
Twig Characteristics: Usually orange-brown, slightly hairy, and angled with many orange lenticels
Other Information: Produces nuts with a sweet kernel that are very popular among man and wildlife
Classification of Marine Bacteria
Activity 2:What microbe are you?
Go to the following page and complete the quiz: http://cmore.soest.hawaii.edu/education/kidskorner/ur_q1.htm
1. When finished take a screen shot, or copy and paste the information about the microbe most like you.
2. View the dichotomous key provided by your teacher. Answer the following:
a. How are the steps in the dichotomous key organized? In a tree chart format
b. What is the purpose of a dichotomous key? To find which microbes are alike and different
c. What characteristics were used in the steps of the dichotomous key? Personal preferences
d. Which bacteria are you most closely related to? Elphidum
e. Which bacteria are you most different from? Anything under the procaryots
Animal Classification
Blood proteins circulate plasma of blood. Biochemistry is the study of chemical substances occurring in living organisms. These are both used to group animals that have the same blood proteins and biochemistry characteristics. All mammals have similar blood proteins such as albumin, aluminum and fibrinogens; however, non-mammals have different biochemical features like blood circulation in their blood than mammals.Source: http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=cache:qo4LQ5OCm8kJ:globalbiology.wikispaces.com/file/view/Classifying_Animals_Period_5.pdf+using+blood+proteins+to+classify+animals&hl=en&gl=us&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESjM6cMm4ANNYvx9FQaPa2OyOSbCAFTmNIeSZzab0JyYCruNMhZUgtY3ICMVQVdHDlQ3Je1FzV7Vi9iFKa_kzOK-eBa3rAqkhQy95jj0LXafrTPi2a2GlJ3aMR1sHM8OUUlve4He&sig=AHIEtbSlzz0g4X30sy2IusCvtwNcEIZdXg
Biomolecule Lab
For my graph, I looked at the test results for the biomolecule lab of one food from each of the above food groups. I took the overall results of the food, decided what I thought the best reaction was, and graphed it. The red represents presence of simple sugars, the blue represents presence of starches, the green represents presence of fats, and the black represents presence of proteins. In the fruit category, there was a presence of simple sugars, but no starch, fat, or protein. For vegetables, there were starches but no fat or protein. For beans, there was starch, fat, and protein all present but there were no simple sugars. In meat, there was fat and protein but no simple sugars or starches. In eggs, there were no simple sugars or starches but they contained fat and protein. Lastly, for milk, there were no simple sugars but there were starches, fat, and protein. I can conclude from this that although fruits are good for you, they have many simple sugars. Vegetables are high in starch. Beans contain necessary ingredients and lack simple sugars. Are made up of mostly fats and proteins. Milk contains starches, fats, and proteins. So, one should eat a combination of the food groups in order to consume all of these ingredients. For example, you could not survive on eggs alone. You would need to combine it with something like eggs that have fat and protein.
Answers to questions
Catalase Lab
For the catalase lab, i tested the onion. After testing it in warm hydrogen peroxide, it showed no reaction. For the room temperature hydrogen peroxide, the onion still showed no reacion. Lastly, for the cold hydrogen peroixde, it still showed no reaction. To conclude, onions do not react in hydrogen peroxide. However, it may react in hot hydrogen peroxide since only warm, room temperature, and cold hydrogen peroxide were used. My graph for the overall results (from everyone) is below:My question: Are enzymes essential for genetic engineering?
Answer: Enzymes are indeed necessary for genetic engineering. Typically, enzymes are used in our bodies to break things down and put things back together. The control all actions and reactions. A lot of things today are genetically engineered and altered. This would not be possible without enzymes. If you wanted to put the DNA of one organism into another, you would need to cut the DNA. But what would you use? Enzymes need to do this. Even if you found a way to cut the DNA, you would need to reassemble it in the new organism, and only enzymes can do this. It is their job. Also, organisms would not be able to survive without enzymes. All reactions in our bodies take place slowly, and if enzymes did not exist, we would already be dead by the time our bodies reacted. Enzymes are needed for typically everything that takes place in our bodies and without them, we would not be able to survive.
Sources:
http://www.molecular-plant-biotechnology.info/enzymes-used-in-genetic-engineering/enzymes-used-in-genetic-engineering.htm
http://in.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100915051721AAlZHs2
Chromatography Lab
I can conclude from the chromatography lab that not all plants have the same type of chlorophyll. I know this because the different leaves in the lab all showed different results. Pigment two of plant A and pigment two of plant B may have not only different pigment fronts but also different pigment colors. You can see this by comparing the pigment colors/fronts to those of other plant samples.
Light Intensity Lab
Homework:
1. Light intensity is typically how energetic the light wave is, and the higher the frequency, the higher its intensity will be.
2. Wavelength determines the form of energy in the electromagnetic spectrum. It is the distance between the different crests of energy waves.
3. Pigments change the color of reflected light. They absorb certain wavelengths of light.
1. Wavelength and light intensity are necessary for photosynthesis. Without any light intensity at all, photosynthesis would not be able to occur. We know this, because in our simulation, we at one point set the light intensity to zero. Every combination with zero as the light intensity ended up making zero ATP, meaning photosynthesis did not occur.
2. The above photos summarize our simulation. I concluded that you need a medium of light intensity and wavelength to make any ATP at all. Too much or too little of either factor will result in no ATP being made, thus disabling photosynthesis.
Yeast Lab Analysis
1. State 2 clear, concise conclusions derived from the analysis of the results from the experiments in your class.
One conclusion is that the 5% water/sugar solution helped the yeast to release the most carbon dioxide. So 5% was the ideal amount of sugar to produce the most carbon dioxide. The other solutions were not as efficient. Therefore, the 3%, 7% and 10% solutions were not as productive as the 5% solution.
2. What was the dependent and independent variables in the experiment? Explain.
The dependent variable was the amount of sugar in the solutions. We used different sugar solutions for every tube we filled. The independent variables included yeast, water temperature, amount of yeast, and amount of water because they did not change throughout the entire experiment.
3. According to the experimental data, what kind of environment do yeast prefer? How did the sugar concentration change the result? Explain.
After doing this experiment, we concluded that yeast prefer a warm, moist environment. The sugar concentrations altered the amount of carbon dioxide the yeast produced. They either produced a lot of carbon dioxide or not enough to make the balloon inflate. The 5% concentration produced the most because that balloon was inflated the most.
4. How did the amount of rising change with the different types of sugar solutions used?
With the 3% solution, the bread raised the least. For 5%, the bread raised the most. For 7%, the bread raised slighty less than the 3%. For 10%, the bread didn’t rise much more than the 3%.
5. What kind of respiration did the yeast carry out in the experiment? Explain.
Anaerobic respiration was carried out. This is because after glycolysis, 2 pyruvate were converted to ethanol and CO2 during fermentation.
DNA Replication Model
DNA replication starts with one strand of DNA.
Then, the enzyme DNA helicase "unzips" the DNA.
DNA polymerase separates the unzipped strand of DNA and the hydrogen bonds between bases are broken.
Then, new nitrogen bases such as adenine, thymine, cytosine, and guanine reconnect with the old nitrogen bases that were abandoned after separation.
Lastly, the two stands are zipped back up with DNA ligase into the double helix, thus creating two strands of DNA instead of one.
Description
DNA replication begins with just a single strand of DNA. It is then unzipped by DNA helicase and separated by DNA polymerase. In this stage, the hydrogen bonds between the nitrogen bases are broken. After that, the proper nitrogen bases line up with the nitrogen bases that were left after separation. Two exact models are now made. Finally, the two strands are zipped back together with DNA ligase and the product is two identical strands of DNA.Class Traits Lab